Walgreens and WAG Launches New Programs

On May 17, Walgreens announces two new Walgreens and WAG programs to help clients connect with brands and get vaccinated. On May 15 mobile clinic made its first stop in Washington, D.C., with a mobile clinic bus capable of vaccinating up to six patients at a time.

Besides that, the company announced a new suite of capabilities to offer brands more ways to connect with its customers, including new offerings and expanding areas where brands can leverage Walgreens uniquely scaled first-party data to drive return on investment. This decision builds upon the launch of Walgreens Advertising Group (wag) in winter 2020.

Coast-to-Coast Mobile Bus Clinic Tour

Walgreens already has hosted more than 800 offsite clinics in medically underserved areas, primarily at churches and community centers. On May 3, Walgreens announced the launch of multiple mobile clinics, starting with a mobile trailer that continues to make stops throughout Chicago. The mobile bus clinic will offer walk-up vaccinations cross-country, making stops city-to-city from now through early July.

The tentative COVID-19 vaccination bus tour is as follows:

• Washington, D.C. – May 15-16
• Atlanta – May 22-24
• Louisville, KY – May 27
• Detroit – May 29-30
• Cincinnati – June 1
• New Orleans – June 5-6
• Baton Rouge – June 7
• Monroe, LA – June 8-9
• Houston – June 11
• Corpus Christi, TX – June 12-13
• McAllen, TX – June 14
• Albuquerque, NM – June 18-19
• Phoenix – June 22
• Los Angeles – June 24-27
• Oakland, CA – June 29
• Eugene, OR – July 2
• Salem, OR – July 3
• Portland, OR – July 5

Walgreens warns, that mobile clinic tour dates and cities are subject to change. Information about tour stops and walk-up clinic times will be promoted in local markets. “We understand the important role Walgreens has and will continue to play in removing access barriers to the COVID-19 vaccine,” said John Standley, president, Walgreens. “Mobile clinics and the other models we use will allow us to bring vaccines to the heart of the most impacted communities, as well as addressing common barriers like transportation and convenience for those who want to get vaccinated.”

Walgreens and WAG

Walgreens Advertising Group audience-based television, via over-the-top (OTT) media services, connected TV’s (CTV), and traditional audience based linear TV allowing brands to reach even more customers thoughtfully wherever they choose to consume media.

“At Walgreens Advertising Group we have three principles that are core to our DNA: to help brands deliver more relevant personalized experiences, to support audience-led and channel agnostic media approaches, and to make it easy to work with us,” said Luke Kigel, vice president of Walgreens integrated media and leader of Walgreens Advertising Group. “These new advanced TV capabilities are all in continuance of our principles, and will open new areas of value for our brand partners that mirror our programmatic offering.”

The new offering includes two facets:

• The addition of OTT & CTV inventory now accessible via the wagDSP — a proprietary programmatic buying technology that integrates Walgreens customer and transaction data with dynamic creative capabilities and real-time optimization. Inventory is sourced through over 100 apps and 10 supply side platforms with over 2.5B available impressions daily, including access to inventory from key platforms. Brands activating against this inventory can do so with all of the same functionality, optimization and measurement capability as in digital video & display executed through the wagDSP.
• A first-to-market collaboration with OpenAP, and integration with the OpenID that enables brands to reach audiences powered by Walgreens first-party data as part of their television buys. 

“Advanced data is completely transforming the way television advertising is bought and sold. With the next race in marketing focused on access to the most actionable data, Walgreens Advertising Group collaborating with brands and offering insights to deterministic data is something brands need to take notice of,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP. “The power of the data and the partnership with OpenAP will make it possible to deploy Walgreens data to better plan, optimize, and measure TV campaigns across all programmers and screens and enable marketers to tie their campaign performance back to in-store purchases.”